Kagan Living In The Face Of Death Analysis
Introduction:
Kagan, the author of Living in the Face of Death, argues that facts about death have an impact on the way that individuals live their lives. She commences by discussing the three different reactions that people have when they are confronted with the topic of death: denial, being responsive, or disregarding them. According to Kagan, people in denial believe that death is not the end of their existence. In regards to responding to a set of facts, individuals accept the fact that death is an inevitable aspect of life and attempt to live accordingly. Lastly, people simply disregard death by ignoring it. Kagan states that the best response to live a good life may be to disregard death, but I am arguing for the concept of accepting …show more content…
In order for an individual to live a good life, they need to understand why the fear of death is unreasonable, that gratitude is the correct approach to life, and how living in accordance to nature are the three keys to happiness. According to Kagan, three conditions are necessary in order for a fear to be considered reasonable: the object of your fear must be bad, there must be a non-negligible chance of the bad thing occurring, and there must be uncertainty of the bad thing occurring. If one of the conditions are not met, then it makes no sense to have a fear. Death is an unreasonable fear because it does not meet these conditions. Thus, people should accept death as a part of life. The next step after acceptance is for individuals to minimize their attachments to material objects because this will enable them to attain a sense of peace and live a good life. Critics may claim that death is a reasonable fear due to the fact that it is a deprivation of life, however, this claim can be rebutted because there is no uncertainty with death, therefore there is no fear. Although we have an innate feeling of dread due to death, it cannot be feared because we know it will happen. Lastly, people cannot be afraid of suffering after death, because we cease to exist after death. All in all, death is an unreasonable fear, and the sooner everyone accepts it, the sooner they will be to living a good
Kagan, the author of Living in the Face of Death, argues that facts about death have an impact on the way that individuals live their lives. She commences by discussing the three different reactions that people have when they are confronted with the topic of death: denial, being responsive, or disregarding them. According to Kagan, people in denial believe that death is not the end of their existence. In regards to responding to a set of facts, individuals accept the fact that death is an inevitable aspect of life and attempt to live accordingly. Lastly, people simply disregard death by ignoring it. Kagan states that the best response to live a good life may be to disregard death, but I am arguing for the concept of accepting …show more content…
In order for an individual to live a good life, they need to understand why the fear of death is unreasonable, that gratitude is the correct approach to life, and how living in accordance to nature are the three keys to happiness. According to Kagan, three conditions are necessary in order for a fear to be considered reasonable: the object of your fear must be bad, there must be a non-negligible chance of the bad thing occurring, and there must be uncertainty of the bad thing occurring. If one of the conditions are not met, then it makes no sense to have a fear. Death is an unreasonable fear because it does not meet these conditions. Thus, people should accept death as a part of life. The next step after acceptance is for individuals to minimize their attachments to material objects because this will enable them to attain a sense of peace and live a good life. Critics may claim that death is a reasonable fear due to the fact that it is a deprivation of life, however, this claim can be rebutted because there is no uncertainty with death, therefore there is no fear. Although we have an innate feeling of dread due to death, it cannot be feared because we know it will happen. Lastly, people cannot be afraid of suffering after death, because we cease to exist after death. All in all, death is an unreasonable fear, and the sooner everyone accepts it, the sooner they will be to living a good